A known challenge in various industries requiring transport of particulate material is to find cost-effective and time and space efficient solutions for conveying particulate material to elevated locations, for example to an inlet opening at the top of an upright storage bin in which the particulate material is to be stored for subsequent use.
One example of such situations can be found in the oil and gas industry, where the use of hydraulic fracturing is becoming more commonplace. The process is used to improve production from a hydrocarbon formation by pumping fluid and proppant material downhole in order to use high fluid pressures to fracture the formation and hold the fractures open with the granular proppant material. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0123303 describes known challenges in filling horizontal or vertically oriented proppant storage tanks using conventional pneumatic conveyance systems found on some tractor-trailer proppant transport vehicles. The reference draws particular attention to the problem of long vehicle unloading times and limited space to allow unloading of multiple vehicles simultaneously. This reference discloses storage containers that have their own dedicated auger, screw or bucket conveyors running vertically up the tank wall in order to fill the tank from an upper inlet. However, one potential drawback is the notable cost of incorporating a dedicated conveyor at every proppant storage tank.
Other applications requiring unloading and conveyance of particulate or granular material include the process of filling grain bins in the agricultural industry. Conventional solutions in this field include the use of a short transfer auger to laterally convey grain out from under a hopper-bottomed grain trailer and into a larger main auger that slopes obliquely up to the top of the grain bin. However, accurate relative positioning between a large transport vehicle and the transfer auger inlet can be physically challenging and/or time consuming, especially if available space around the bin is limited by the presence of trees, additional bins, or other structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,066 assigned to Bourgault Industries Ltd. discloses a portable grain unloading and conveying system that employs ramps and augers on a trailer frame in order to provide a mobile solution where the transport vehicle can simply be unloaded in a drive-over manner using the ramps. The underside outlet of the transport vehicle empties out into a pair of horizontal auger conveyors disposed between two side beams of the trailer frame through a grate-style platform mounted atop the trailer frame. The horizontal augers empty into the lower end of an upwardly sloped auger at the end of the trailer opposite the trailer hitch.
Another drive-over trailer-mounted conveyor solution for use in the agriculture and aggregate industries disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,845,482, 7,424,943, 7,607,529, 8,011,490 and 8,430,225 assigned to Superior Industries LLC.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,336 teaches a mobile concrete batching system in which a receiving hopper for bulk cement accepts bulk cement from a hopper-bottom truck, but this receiving hopper is buried in the ground in order to achieve the resulting drive-over unloading station. This increases the complexity and time involved to setup the mobile plant for use.
Chinese Utility Model 2478984 teaches a wheel conveyor apparatus for filling of grain bins, but lacks an onboard solution for feeding of the conveyor from a hopper bottom vehicle in a drive-over manner.
PCT Application Publication 2011/0707975 teaches a mobile asphalt mixing plant including multiple on-board conveyors, but again lacks a built in drive-over unloading Solution for trucked-in source materials.
European Patent 0230883 teaches a mobile bucket elevator for handling of bulk materials, but also lacks a drive-over unloading solution.
Applicant has developed a portable conveyor solution employing unique and advantageous feature combinations previously unseen in the prior art.